What Makes Sports Clubs Successful at Recruiting and Retaining Members from the Perspective of Managers? Results from a Random Forest Analysis

Abstract

The goal of this study is to investigate the relative importance of several predictors of nonprofit sports clubs’ success in recruiting new, and keeping existing, members from the perspective of club managers. Using a random forest analysis known from machine learning, the study takes into account relevant predictors of successful member recruitment and retention. Data were collected via a survey with managers from 284 German sports clubs. The results reveal that service quality and trust are the two most important predictors for recruiting and retaining members. Furthermore, innovation activity, among others, has positive effects on recruiting and retaining members. It also provides suggestive evidence for adverse effects of coopetition—that is, the collaboration with competitors—because high-level (vs. medium-level) collaboration with the clubs’ competitors had a negative impact on recruiting and retaining members. The study derives several implications for the customer relationship management in nonprofit sports clubs.

从管理者的角度来看, 什么使得体育俱乐部在招募和保留会员方面取得成功？ 由随机森林分析取得结果

这项研究的目的是从俱乐部经理的角度调查非营利体育俱乐部成功招募新会员, 并保留现有会员的众多预测因素中相对重要的因素。使用机器学习中的随机森林分析, 本研究考虑了基于关系营销的概念和以往实证成功招募并保留会员的相关预测因素。数据通过与284家德国体育俱乐部的经理进行调查收集而来。结果表明, 服务质量和信任度是招募并保留会员的两个最重要的预测因素。此外, 创新活动相较其他因素, 对招募并保留会员产生积极影响。在部分依赖图中, 研究分别确定了服务质量、创新活动、网络能力与招募并保留会员之间相互关联性的阈值。研究还为合作性竞争（即与竞争对手的合作）的不利影响提供了暗示性证据–因为与俱乐部竞争对手的高层（相较于中层）合作会对招募并保留会员产生消极影响。该研究对非营利体育俱乐部的客户关系管理有一定启发作用。

Keywords:

• Customer relationship management
• open innovation
• coopetition
• organizational capacity
• nonprofit organizations

关键词:

• 客户关系管理
• 开放式创新
• 合作性竞争
• 组织能力
• 非营利组织

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 One item was included for each institution. The institutions are as follows: sports clubs with the same focus; sports clubs with a different focus; fitness studios; for-profit sports centers other than fitness studios; local community sports offers; offers from health service providers (e.g. physiotherapy); offers from adult education centers; offers from educational institutions (e.g. kindergartens, schools, and universities) other than adult education centers; personal trainers; offers from cultural institutions (e.g. music and dance); offers from non-sport leisure institutions (e.g. museums and theaters); as well as others (to be filled in).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joerg Koenigstorfer

Joerg Koenigstorfer (Ph.D., Saarland University, Germany) is a Professor at the Chair of Sport and Health Management at Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany. His research focus is on consumer behavior in sports and health. He currently serves as the Associate Editor of European Sport Management Quarterly. His work has appeared in such journals as Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, among others.

Felix Wemmer

Felix Wemmer (Ph.D., Technical University of Munich, Germany) was a Postdoc at the Chair of Sport and Health Management at Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany and currently works for Allianz, Germany. His research interests include (open) innovation processes at sports clubs as well as managing not-for-profit organizations. His work has appeared in such journals as Voluntas – International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations and European Sport Management Quarterly.